The 2026 World Cup will be remembered as an edition where the stars came out to play.Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland and more have lit up North America enchanting fans both new and old, while setting up one of the most exciting Golden Boot races in the tournament’s 96-year history.With just one more opportunity left to add to his total, Messi has the chance to do the unthinkable at the age of 39.What Is the Golden Boot Award?Harry Kane won the Boot in 2018. | Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)The World Cup Golden Boot goes to the tournament's top goal scorer. Unlike the media-voted Golden Ball, this one is purely a numbers game: most goals wins. In modern editions, assists has served as the tiebreaker if scorers are level. Historic recipients include Just Fontaine, whose 13 goals at the 1958 tournament for France remain a single-edition record, along with icons Gerd Müller, Ronaldo, Miroslav Klose, and Mbappé—the 2022 winner with eight goals. No player has ever won the Boot twice, while Messi is yet to claim the award.Every FIFA World Cup Golden Boot Winner in HistoryYearGolden Boot WinnerGoals1930Guillermo Stábile (Argentina)81934Oldřich Nejedlý (Czechoslovakia)51938Leônidas (Brazil)71950Ademir (Brazil)91954Sándor Kocsis (Hungary)111958Just Fontaine (France)131962Flórián Albert (Hungary)Valentin Ivanov (Soviet Union)Garrincha (Brazil)Vavá (Brazil)Dražan Jerković (Yugoslavia)Leonel Sánchez (Chile)41966Eusébio (Portugal)91970Gerd Müller (West Germany)101974Grzegorz Lato (Poland)71978Mario Kempes (Argentina)61982Paolo Rossi (Italy)61986Gary Lineker (England)61990Salvatore Schillaci (Italy)61994Oleg Salenko (Russia)Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria)61998Davor Šuker (Croatia)62002Ronaldo (Brazil)82006Miroslav Klose (Germany)52010Thomas Müller (Germany)52014James Rodríguez (Colombia)62018Harry Kane (England)62022Kylian Mbappé8The Top Contenders to Win the Golden Boot—RankedOn only five previous occasions has a player required more than eight goals to take home the Golden Boot trophy, and never before have there been two or more players with that total. Messi and Mbappé were tied on eight before the Frenchman’s two-goal haul against England in the ‘Bronze Final’—a brace that took him up to an astounding 10 goals. It’s now over to Messi against Spain ...Who Else Was in Contention?Mikel Oyarzabal, in theory, still has a chance to win the Golden Boot, but he’d need to score six goals against Argentina to reach the summit—that’s simply not going to happen.Current Ballon d’Or holder Ousmane Dembélé ended the tournament with six goals, alongside England captain Harry Kane—Dembélé placing higher on the basis of having grabbed one more assist.Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland both scored seven for England and Norway respectively, reflecting just how many of the game’s top stars balled out at this World Cup.2. Lionel MessiA reminder that Lionel Messi is 39. | Erick W. Rasco/ Sports IllustratedGoals: 8Assists: 2Anyone who thought Messi’s 2022 World Cup displays were impossible to top has been proven very wrong, as the 39-year-old continues to defy age in a way that will surely be piquing the interest of several Silicon Valley billionaires.This summer, Messi became both the all-time leading World Cup goalscorer and assist maker (10)—though he lost the former prize to the guy he’s trying to usurp at the top of this Golden Boot race.1. Kylian MbappéKylian Mbappé is Mr World Cup. | Erick W. Rasco/Sports IllustratedGoals: 10Assists: 4Now ahead of Messi in the all-time charts is Mbappé (22) and it’s hard not to imagine the Frenchman going on to breach the 30, possibly even 35 mark before his international career ends.Mbappé has been irresistible at this World Cup, scoring or assisting at least once in every match he’s played until an anonymous semifinal showing against Spain. He bounced back against England even though France lost a ridiculous game 6–4, scoring twice and setting up another.READ THE LATEST WORLD CUP NEWS, ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT FROM SI FCAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow